Wyoming GOP votes to stop recognizing Rep. Liz Cheney as a Republican following her vote to impeach Trump earlier this year
The Wyoming Republican Party will no longer recognize Representative Liz Cheney as a member of the GOP in its second formal rebuke for her criticism of former President Donald Trump.
The symbolic 31-29 vote by the Wyoming Republican Central Committee party in Buffalo will not strip away Cheney from any power, but it reinforces the GOP's disapproval of Cheney after her highly publicized criticism of Trump.
Cheney was the most high profile of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 Capital riot.
Her fallout with the GOP was further fueled by her constant remarks against Trump, whom she branded a 'liar on a crusade to undermine our democracy.'
'This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans. Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar,' she said in May.
On Saturday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz adventured to suggest Chenney should join the Democratic party on Twitter but was quickly shut down by Cheney.
'I know you’re posturing for the secessionist vote, Ted. But my party, the Republican party, saved the Union. You swore an oath to the Constitution. Act like it,' Cheney tweeted in response.
Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler said it's 'laughable' for anybody to suggest Cheney isn't a 'conservative Republican.'
'She is bound by her oath to the Constitution. Sadly a portion of the Wyoming GOP leadership has abandoned that fundamental principle and instead allowed themselves to be held hostage to the lies of a dangerous and irrational man,' Adler added.
The symbolic 31-29 vote by the Wyoming Republican Central Committee party in Buffalo will not strip away Liz Cheney (left) from any power, but it reinforces the GOP's disapproval of Cheney after her publicized criticism of Trump (right)
On Saturday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz adventured to suggest Chenney should join the Democratic party on Twitter but was quickly shut down by Cheney
'I know you’re posturing for the secessionist vote, Ted. But my party, the Republican party, saved the Union. You swore an oath to the Constitution. Act like it,' Cheney tweeted in response
The decision on Saturday followed votes by local GOP officials in about one-third of Wyoming's 23 counties to no longer recognize Cheney as a Republican.
Cheney has described her vote to impeach Trump as an act of conscience in defense of the Constitution. Trump 'incited the mob' and 'lit the flame' of that day's events, Cheney said after the attack.
'It became very clear that staying in leadership would require me to perpetuate the lie about the last election, perpetuate the big lie, perpetuate things that are dangerous,' she told the Wall Street Journal in an interview.
But it came at a cost. She was ousted as chair of the House Republican Conference, the third-highest position in the House Republican leadership, and replaced by Elise Stefanik.
Cheney had survived an earlier attempt to remove her as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, a role that shapes GOP messaging in the chamber.
In February, the Wyoming GOP central committee voted overwhelmingly to censure Cheney, Wyoming's lone US representative, for voting to impeach Trump for his role in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.
Cheney is now facing at least four Republican opponents in the 2022 primary including Cheyenne attorney Harriet Hageman, whom Trump has endorsed.
Hageman in a statement called the latest state GOP central committee vote 'fitting,' the Casper Star-Tribune reported.
'Liz Cheney stopped recognizing what Wyomingites care about a long time ago. When she launched her war against President Trump, she completely broke with where we are as a state,' Hageman said.
On Wednesday, Trump ripped into Cheney, claiming she had a '19 percent' approval rating after the Wyoming Republican said party members were 'willing hostages' to Trump's 'war with the rule of law and the Constitution.'
'With an approval rating at 19% in Wyoming, people are wise to Liz Cheney,' Trump said in a statement. 'Cheney is far more unpopular than her father, who just lost his position as the least popular Vice President in American history to Kamala Harris. Democrats would never put up with a Liz Cheney in their ranks.'
It was unclear where Trump got his 19 percent figure.
Cheney has described her vote to impeach Trump as an act of conscience in defense of the Constitution. Trump 'incited the mob' and 'lit the flame' of that day's events, Cheney said after the attack. Above, Cheney during the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications' 18th First Amendment Awards at the NH Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College on Nov 9
Trump came out with a new statement Wednesday afternoon hitting Cheney after she spoke out against him last week in New Hampshire
A July Club for Growth survey had her approval rating at the still-low 26 percent.
A USA Today/Suffolk poll found that Harris' approval rating stood at 27.8 percent, which is lower than former Vice President Dick Cheney's approval rating at a comparable time in office.
Despite Trump's claims, Cheney announced in July that her campaign raised almost $1.9 million in the second quarter of 2021, hundreds of thousands of dollars more than Rep. Elise Stefanik, who replaced her in a Republican leadership role.
Trump's rage against Cheney came after she delivered a speech last week in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first presidential primary.
There, she knocked around members of her own party for their continued support of Trump, such as inviting him to keynote the National Republican Congressional Committee's fundraising dinner Monday night in Tampa, Florida.
'A former president is attempting to unravel the foundations of our constitutional republic, aided by political leaders who have made themselves willing hostages to this dangerous and irrational man,' she said.
At the NRCC dinner, she pointed out how Trump, again, said the real 'insurrection was on November 3,' the day of the presidential election, and that the events of January 6, 'that those events were a protest, that they were justified.'
'Political leaders who sit silent in the face of these false and dangerous claims are aiding a former president who is at war with the rule of law and the Constitution,' she then said.
She also asked the audience if Americans will 'do our duty.'
'Will we do what we must? Will we defend our Constitution? Will we stand for truth? Will we put duty to our oath above partisan politics?' she asked.
'Or will we look away from the danger, ignore the threat, embrace the lies and enable the liar?' she continued.
'There's no gray area when it comes to that question when it comes to this moment. There is no middle ground,' Cheney said.
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